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Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions.
This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization.
Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Between 1880 and 1920, the
Central
Interior Highlands (CIH), consisting of Missouri,
Oklahoma
and Arkansas, saw the height of deforestation that
also
decreased
the habitat for black bears and other forest
species. To
combat
the decline of black bears and repopulate the
mountainous
region, more than 250 bears from Minnesota and
Manitoba
were relocated to Arkansas in the 1950s and 1960s.
Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have
analyzed
genetic diversity in black bears in the CIH and have
determined that coordinated conservation management
is still needed to maintain healthy populations of black
bears
in the region.

"The focus of our study was to determine the effects
of the reintroduction of black bears in the Ozark and
Ouachita Mountains and how that reintroduction affected
population genetics in the region," said Emily Puckett,
a doctoral candidate in the Division of Biological Sciences
at MU. "We also wanted to determine if we could find
evidence of the population that was formerly here and
whether or not they mated with the reintroduced
bears or if they had gone locally extinct following
deforestation."

Study results suggested that black bears were present
throughout the CIH in the 1920s, contrary to
previous beliefs. Current research indicates that the
bears had a remnant lineage in the northern Ozarks of
Missouri, Puckett said.

Additionally, the team found that current black
bears went through a brief "bottleneck," where bears
were cut off from each other and genetic diversity was
reduced. However, the team also determined that the
reintroduction of bears to the CIH in the 1950s and
1960s helped to restore diversity and increase
population size in the Ozarks and Ouachitas.

"We observed the genetic signature of the Ozark
population from Arkansas in Missouri, meaning that
the bears moved north," said Puckett. "These bears
bring with them their higher genetic diversity
which may help Missouri's bear population in the
future. The movement north also indicates that
formerly fragmented forests may have regrown
thereby connecting Missouri bears to the
Ozark subpopulation that was further south."

Puckett analyzed genetic diversity in black bears in
the CIH and determined that coordinated conservation
management is still needed to maintain healthy
populations of black bears in the region.

(Photo Credit: Melody Kroll)

Puckett and her team including Lori Eggert, associate
professor of biological sciences in MU's College of Arts
and Science, and Jeff Beringer from the Missouri
Department of Conservation, collected and analyzed
DNA samples from black bears from five geographical
locations. Hair samples from Arkansas, Oklahoma
and Missouri were analyzed. Additionally, blood
samples from hibernating bears in Minnesota and
tissue samples from Manitoba were examined for
their genetic signatures.

"This represented one of the largest sample sizes
in a study of this type," Eggert said. "By using
multiple genetic markers on samples collected
from Missouri and Arkansas, hunted bears in
Oklahoma and live dens in Manitoba, we were
able to conduct genetic and statistical analyses
to analyze trends and gain robust conclusions."

The team suggests that conservation efforts
to promote forest connectivity will help protect
bears throughout the region, so that subpopulations
are not isolated, as was the case in Missouri, and
genetic diversity remains high. State agencies in
Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri could work
together to unify bear management since this
study observed populations spanning state borders.

"Geneticists get concerned when populations have
low genetic diversity," Puckett said. "Low diversity
can be indicative of low population size. When
harmful mutations arise in a gene pool with
low diversity, they may increase in frequency
leading to poor fitness and health in the
population. That's why these management
suggestions are so important."

The study, "Influence of drift and admixture
on population structure of American black bears
(Ursus americanus) in the Central Interior
Highlands, USA, 50 years after translocation,"
was published in the journal Molecular Ecology.
Funding for the project was provided by the
Missouri Department of Conservation, Arkansas
Game and Fish Commission, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, and Safari Club International.

Two Massachusetts Eastern Coyotes at their den site

Eastern Wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

Aldo Leopold--3 quotes from his SAN COUNTY ALMANAC

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

Aldo Leopold

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Aldo Leopold

''To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."

Wildlife Rendezvous

Like so many conscientious hunters and anglers come to realize, good habitat with our full suite of predators and prey make for healthy and productive living............Teddy Roosevelt depicted at a "WILDLIFE RENDEZVOUS"

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Blog Disclaimer

This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time…I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of my various thoughts and opinions, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today. All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Rick Meril and WWW.COYOTES-WOLVES-COUGARS.COM make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.